Tag Archives: TV

I think I’ve mentioned on this blog my great great dislike for the Summer TV Season. Though, admittedly, there are some good shows airing now, I get really bummed about shows that just ended and the wait for new shows to begin.

I usually take this time to catch up on some shows I overlooked in the last season. It’s the season for marathons and I’d like to share with you all my pics for shows to binge-watch while you (we) wait for fall.

Orphan Black

I was a bit hesitant to watch this show in the beginning. Reading the synopsis did not excite any neurons. I thought it was going to be some campy show about clones. Boy.Was.I.Wrong.

Because the other official posters were scary >.< Tatiana Maslany as Sarah/Alison/Cosima/Helena etc.

How to explain this show? Hmm…At the beginning we meet Sarah (and her fabulous gay bff Felix) as she watches a woman who looks exactly like her commit suicide. Before you jump to the conclusion that Ringer has just been renewed, we quickly find out that Sarah has not one, but two, three, four, seven “twins”/clones. I don’t want to give too much away so I’ll stop there. Just trust me about this show, the premise might sound campy but the storylines are addicting. AND! Tatiana Maslany is sooo great at portraying multiple characters. She even gets away with playing a clone pretending to be another clone. Amazing amazing amazing. Go. Just go and watch it.

In the Flesh

From clones to zombies. Here’s another trope-defying show that is a must-watch for all zombie fans. It stars the adorable Luke Newberry as Kieren an ex-zombie who just wants to fit in.

In this series adaptation of the popular supernatural trope, zombies are slowly being cured. They are now called Partially Deceased Syndrome (PDS) sufferers and are being incorporated into society once again. It’s a gripping show about how society deals with discrimination (and a wee bit about how a community deals with ex-convicts, using zombies as a symbolism for people being rehabilitated into society after being incarcerated — at least that’s how I saw it.) Wow, things just got deep. XD Anyway, it’s a great show to watch but it tends to get heavy. Pack some tissues and make sure no one can see you ugly-cry. With only three episodes in the entire first season, you’ll surely devour it quickly. Fair warning though, season two doesn’t come out for awhile. If you’re the type of person who won’t be able to stand a long wait until the next season, better hold off until the series 2 premiere date gets closer.

As always, I’m extremely excited for fall. I live in the Philippines, so it’s not the weather that excites me…it’s the TV Shows! Most of the shows I follow are from the US so I am a slave to their TV schedules.

Here’s how my September-February will look like in terms of shows I’ll be downloading. Now, time slots don’t really affect me but I wanted to have some semblance of order in my TV table.

Shows in bold are new shows premiering in Fall 2013. As for the others, they’re returning shows in their latest seasons. This table may evolve as changes in schedules come out over the next few months. Feel free to come back and see any changes. I’ll be keeping this post as updated as possible.

Time

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Sunday

8:00

Bones, How I Met Your Mother, Almost Human

Dads, The Orignals, S.H.I.E.L.D.

Revolution

The Big Bang Theory, The Vampire Diaries

The Carrie Diaries

Once Upon a Time

8:30

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

9:00

2 Broke Girls, The Following, Sleepy Hollow

New Girl, Supernatural

Modern Family

Grey’s Anatomy, The Crazy Ones

ANTM, Enlisted

9:30

The Mindy Project

Super Fun Night

The Michael J. Fox Show

10:00

CSI

Scandal, Elementary

Crossbones

I’ll be posting summaries and trailers of the new shows I’m looking forward to watching. 🙂

Skins was one of the first British shows I watched (and actively followed). I don’t remember how I found out about it but in no time at all I was hooked. I downloaded all the episodes I could and waited patiently for the next episodes to air. This was way back 2007, I think.

Now, the Skins I fell in love with had the First Gen cast. So, this recommendation and review only pertains to the First Gen kids. I have no love for the Second Gen (and stopped watching it after their first series). I stuck around for a bit to watch Effie and her new gang to just give the show the benefit of the doubt. Though it was entertaining at times, my heart just didn’t beat for them.

Anyway, back to the First Gen kids. I LOVE them. And I mean Looooove. For me, they were the epitome of the teenage lifestyle. Sex, lack of sex, insecurities, identity crises, belonging, being left out, fights, crushes, loves and most of all friendship. They had a certain freedom about them. More than being able to stay out all night partying, they had the devil may care attitude, the “let me go where the wind takes me” and the “I just don’t give a damn”. I mean, they went to Russia! I had fun watching them have fun and fall apart. I relished in all the unrequited love and the love taken for granted. I laughed and cried and laughed again. For fans of the series, you know what (or who) I am talking about.

They were young and wild and free and I loved them.

For me, the show was fueled by the characters. There wasn’t a central plot, no big bad to vanquish. It was all about the kids and how they lived they lives. It’s no surprise then that I lost interest when the cast changed. I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch the Second and Third generations, I just can’t recommend them. That goes ditto for Skins US.

After gushing like a little school girl, let me give you a little bit more about the show. Skins UK is about 8 teenagers.

Tony (the leader),

Sid (the bestfriend),

Michelle (the girlfriend),

Jal (the girlfriend’s friend),

Maxxie (the gay friend),

Anwar (the gay friend’s bestfriend who happens to be Muslim),

Chris (the slacker) and

Cassie (the recovering anorexic).

At first glance, it may seem like the show revolves around Tony, but each episode is dedicated to another character. Throughout the whole series, you fins out a little bit more about each person and fall in love with them afterwards. There’s a lot of sex scenes and even more swearing but once you get used to that, you really get into the meat of the show. And that is, like I said, the characters. They even have video shorts and I gobbled those up too.

This long-winded review has come to an end and I hope I have convinced you to at least try out an episode. Word of advice, start with the First Gen. Whether you’d like to continue and see the others, well that’s up to you.

Since there is a lack of UK shows available to the masses in the Philippines, there are almost no fangirls/boys for me to fangirl with. This makes my random rants and exclamations of love unheard and passed over. To remedy this, I am posting my top 5 favorite UK shows.

NUMBER 5

Little Britain and The Robinsons

Ok, so I’m cheating a little bit by giving you two shows on one slot. The reason for this is that both shows aren’t on air anymore and you may be hard-pressed to find copies on the Internet.

I don’t remember how I stumbled on these two shows but I am really glad I did. (I think I watched them on TV a long time ago, on those obscure channels).

Little Britain is a comedy sketch show written by David Walliams and Matt Lucas. I watched a documentary about British comedy and found that Little Britain was a satire of the conditions of British citizens at that time. It was meant to poke fun at the emerging characters that society had invented. In relation to today’s Philippine society, imagine a show about Jejemons, Conyo Boys and Girls and over-the-top Homosexuals.

Little Britain had many characters and various situations narrated in a manner suggesting that the show was aimed at “non-British” people as a sort of documentary. Creators Williams and Lucas portrayed all the characters seen on the show in different costumes and varying degrees of make-up. Think Eddy Murphy in The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, only more effective.

The Robinsons is a kooky family comedy centered on Ed Robinson (Martin Freeman). This was the first time I encountered Mr. Freeman and unbeknownst to me, not the last. I’m sort of in love with him and his acting skills. He did win a Bafta, after all (actually, I think 2 of them!)

I can’t really put into words the reason I love the Robinsons. Though I only have a vague recollection of what the show actually was about, I do remember loving it and patiently waiting for every episode. I do need to find copies and re-watch the show. Take it from me, if I remember a show as being really good then it’s bound to be. Also, Martin effin Freeman ladies and gentlemen! (A little reference, he’ll be playing Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit movies).